Deputy Managing Editor, Science Features – BBC (London)

Bold. British. Creative: that’s BBC Studios. Combining the strengths of the UK’s most-awarded production company with a world-class distributor, we fund, create, distribute and commercialize world-class content for the BBC and other UK and international companies. Our aim is to inspire audiences around the globe with quality content that informs, educates and entertains and to strengthen the BBC, our partners and wider industry both creatively and financially. We seek to be the best British content company in the world; a first-choice partner and employer, where everyone can flourish and do their best work.

At BBC Global Digital News & Streaming, (a team situated within BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC) we aim to help people understand the world around them, make informed choices, and take an active part in society and democracy. As we expand our footprint to meet increasing demand for our style of quality and impartial journalism and unscripted content in North America, we are seeking motivated, passionate, high performing individuals across a variety of skillsets to join our global team. Our primary locations are New York, Washington DC, and London, but a distributed workforce means we can consider excellent candidates anywhere the BBC has a commercial presence.

Join us and be an essential part of one of the world’s most recognized brands and trusted news organizations.

BBC Studios is seeking an experienced manager and skilled editor to join the features team on BBC.com. They will oversee 5-10 veteran editors and journalists who are experts in their coverage areas of health, climate, tech and the sciences more broadly. Working closely with the executive managing editor of global features, this new role is a key part in bringing these teams together, shaping our health, science and tech and business offering, and carving the BBC’s place as a globally trusted source for informative, inspirational, and unexpected stories. A strong background in digital editorial is required, as is the ability to deliver work that is both engaging and evidence-based, timely, well thought-out and ambitious. A health or science editor with connections to high caliber freelancers will be perfect for this role, as is someone with the ability to multi-task, triage based on priority and drive different projects forward simultaneously.

• Working closely with executive managing editor, identifying priorities and opportunities, shaping the key stories or packages of the day, week, month and year with an eye toward goals.
• Partnering with the deputy managing editor, lifestyle, to ensure alignment across the whole BBC.com offering.
• Overseeing a team responsible for assigning and editing articles that analyze, contextualize and make conversation-fodder out of what’s in the news.
• Being an editor first, upholding the BBC’s global perspective, rigorous editorial standards and journalistic best practices on everything your team produces.
• Helping drive the commercial success of BBC.com with effective longterm planning of innovative editorial offerings, while overseeing editorial standards and compliance regulations are upheld.
• Modeling collaborative relationships with peers on BBC News; ensuring your team’s work complements theirs
• Supporting additional special projects, like newsletters, that grow the reach and reputation of your team’s work and the larger BBC.
• Collaborating with teams such as art, social media, and homepage curation, to ensure stories are set up for success.
• Identifying 360 content opportunities that make the most of existing BBC brands and connect their work to your team’s output
• Managing a commissioning budget against output goals.
• Fostering a culture of innovation and support with direct reports as well as with wider teams.
• Reviewing and responding to analytics (performance data as well as SEO trends) and steering your team to pivot coverage accordingly.

• 10+ years professional digital editorial experience, at least 5 managing editorial teams.
• You are a strong communicator and eager to collaborate across a global team, including editorial peers and stakeholders across the business.
• You are an enthusiastic storyteller who can tap into the trends and triumphs in almost any coverage area and find the right experts or data points to shape every story.
• A strong expertise in any scientific discipline; comfort interpreting medical and academic reports and the ability to extrapolate data – and discern when it’s been misinterpreted.
• Excellent news judgement under pressure with a proven ability to spot the sharpest top lines and drive stories forward.
• A proven track record of driving organisational and cultural change and improving diversity and inclusion.
• A passion for digital media and enthusiasm for harnessing this moment of change; an awareness of the broader landscape and the ways competitors are evolving.
• Experience contributing to the commercial success of a digital publication, where journalistic integrity and sharp ideas support the teams that bring this work to market.
• A collaborative leader, able to identify ways to contribute to the successes of a larger team and organization.
• Ability to edit for accuracy, clarity and style to produce impartial journalism.
• Knowledge of the distribution platforms where editorial content succeeds; comfort working with analytics.
• Experience working within a Microsoft Office environment (Teams, Outlook), on Zoom, and using CMS.

Success will look like: direct and effective collaboration, detailed project management and communication to stakeholders at all levels of the organization, delivery on KPIs including an engaged audience and commercial success. In your team, it means: a well-planned editorial calendar that satisfies audience interests and our commercial goals, and a group of individuals that work well together to produce at the highest standards on both short and longterm projects concurrently.

The anticipated annual base salary for this position is $115,000-$125,000. This does not include other benefits that an individual may be eligible for. The actual base salary offered depends on the qualifications of the individual applicant for the position, years of relevant experience, specific and unique skills, level of education attained, certifications or other professional licenses held, and geographic location of the position.

• 100% Employer-Paid Medical and Dental Insurance (PPO plans)
• Generous Paid Time Off
• Flexible, Hybrid Working Arrangements
• Work/life balance
• Free Retirement Consulting to All Employees
• Pet Insurance
• Commuter Benefits
• Gym Reimbursement

We don’t focus simply on what we do – we also care how we do it. Our values and the way we behave are important to us.

Diversity matters at the BBC. We have a working environment where we value and respect every individual’s unique contribution, enabling all of our employees to thrive and achieve their full potential.

We want to attract the broadest range of talented people to be part of the BBC – whether that’s to contribute to our programming or our wide range of non-production roles. The more diverse our workforce, the better able we are to respond to and reflect our audiences in all their diversity.

We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief. We will consider flexible working requests for all roles, unless operational requirements prevent otherwise.